11 Ways to Use Facebook's 24-hour Live Streaming for Business

Facebook Live – the social media giant's live video streaming platform – recently launched Continuous Live Video, a 24-hour live streaming service.

Previously live streams were limited to 90 minutes, but with the launch of this new service it is possible to have much longer videos. The only tradeoff is that videos cannot be saved or shared.

Given the popularity of live videos, which get 3 times more time spent than recorded videos, the new Facebook feature presents a great opportunity for businesses to interact with their target audience in real time.

Videos are an integral part of Facebook's vision for the future and the statistics also point to a massive surge in the consumption of video content on the platform. Towards the end of 2015, Facebook attracted 8 billion average daily video views from 500 million users.

They have also adjusted their algorithm so that live videos appear higher in the news feed, giving businesses all the more reason to go live.

Here are 11 ways that businesses can use Facebook's Continuous Live video for higher customer engagement.

1. Show customers what to expect

A retail business for instance, can give customers a taste of the in-store ambience and superior experience that awaits them through a dedicated live stream from the store. The stream can be made more interesting by having staff talk about the merits of specific products and use cases. Staff can even announce bargains of the day, respond to queries and accept orders.

Bark Box, which ships a monthly box of dog goodies to subscribers, recently live streamed from the world's first store, where dogs are the shoppers and humans follow. The stream which attracted over 72,000 views, gives viewers a taste of what to expect at the store.

Hotels can provide potential guests with a live stream of the view they can expect to see from different rooms. Potential guests can take in views of the golf course, the beach, the gym etc. while deciding if the property is apt for their stay.

A cold meats factory that is proud of its high production standards, can provide a continuous live stream to show customers the effort that goes into the processing and packaging of their favorite meat products. Showing the customer a live view of what is happening can help to build credibility and trust, even more than what can be gained through paid channels.

For example, in one of its live streams on Facebook, Dunkin' Donuts gave its fans a tour of its test kitchen and showcased the construction of a donut wedding cake.  The live stream attracted over 37,000 views.

2. Provide video customer care

Live streaming can also be adapted for round-the-clock video customer care, giving your customers the option to interact with a human representative. Using a live stream for customer care can bring your brand closer to customers as the interaction is immediate, more intimate and transparent.

Mark Zuckerberg's Q&A's on live streams, like the one below, are good examples of how the platform can be used to answer customer questions and deliver a personal touch.

3. Run live online courses

You can run online courses for customers as a value added service. For instance, a company manufacturing photographic equipment can offer online courses that teach customers how to capture spectacular photos and videos. In fact, you can keep the course open to all your Facebook fans, so that even potential customers will be drawn to your equipment, when they see the amazing results that can be achieved with your products.

A recruitment agency can offer tips on CV writing, facing job interviews, body language etc. and answer the questions in real-time, and the best part is they can have different members of the team tackle various topics throughout the day or the week. During the interactions itself they can ask viewers what topics they would like addressed in the coming days.

Benefit Cosmetics, a brand owned by LVMH, runs an immensely popular weekly live stream, where the host and an invited guest share beauty tips and advice. They also respond to viewer questions. With Facebook Continuous Live, these sessions can be extended till all the questions of the viewers are answered. In fact, Facebook itself recommends keeping the live stream open for longer durations as it attracts a higher viewership.

4. Enhance convenience and transparency

Businesses that specialize in made-to-order products that are developed and delivered at short notice can also use live streaming to their advantage.

For example, a bakery can use the live stream to help a customer decide on the right cake for a special occasion and then let them watch the preparation and baking live, right up to the point when the delivery guy walks out of the door with the cake.

You can achieve amazing engagement levels by giving your customers an unmatched access to your business. Customers will appreciate the convenience of being able to select exactly what they want and have their questions answered at the same time without having to leave their homes.

Inviting the customer into your kitchen or back-office shows that you have nothing to hide and they can expect to receive a product or service exactly as advertised.

5. Boost sales

A designer brand can provide a live stream of their latest collection and customers will be able to place orders even as the models walk the ramp.

Brands can maintain their exclusivity by targeting the live stream to a specific geographic area or even age-group using the built-in settings of Facebook live.

6. Crowdsourcing

The live streaming feature can be used for getting feedback on a new product line. A business can interact with its followers and get their opinion or even crowdsource ideas for product improvements.

7. Show project status

A commercial real estate developer can provide a real-time update of the construction status with a live stream from a work site. The project credibility goes up when people can view first-hand what is happening on site. It can be made more interesting by having the site manager interact with viewers and answer questions.

For example, GE's livestreams from the RIO 2016 Olympic Games, provide fans with an exclusive view of the infrastructure and technology behind the event. An event such as the Olympics is perfect for round-the-clock streaming, given the massive global interest in the event and once continuous live video becomes more popular, we can hope to see more global brands switching to this format.

8. Get media coverage

Your live stream can catch the attention of the media as well, and lead to coverage for your business in local online and print publications.

In fact, if you announce a new innovative product line first on your live stream, word will get out fast and attract the attention of key stakeholders including the media.

9. Product launches and demos

Live streams are perfect for product launches, giving your diehard fans the first peek into your latest product.

Live streaming from a car showroom can help potential customers get up close and personal with their dream vehicles. Even a demo of the car in actual driving conditions can be live streamed and questions can be answered while also highlighting the unique facets of the latest model.

Chevrolet's live stream unveiling the all-electric 2017 Bolt EV at the CES 2016 attracted over 55,000 views, showing how the platform can be leveraged effectively for a new product launch.

A printer manufacturer can explain in detail the functions of its latest product and even show a demonstration of how to get the most out of the printer. Even challenges relating to setup can be easily addressed through the interactive sessions.

IHOP, the family restaurant chain's Facebook live stream of pancakes on a beach went viral and became the brand's top social video ever. The brand setup the Facebook live stream to engage customers and draw focus to the pancakes.

With 385,000 video views, the effort was IHOP's top-performing social video. The minimalist video showed pancakes set in a paradise environment with different characters popping in and out to show that it was a live stream and not a video playing on an endless loop.

10. Show your event live

With the 90-minute time limit lifted, you can now conveniently live stream an entire event or conference to your fans on Facebook. Even those who are overseas can benefit from the insights shared at the event.

McDonald's recently live streamed an art show titled 'The Starving Artist', where it unveiled three paintings as part of the National Hamburger Day celebrations. McDonald's first foray into Facebook Live, the stream reached 884, 300 people in 40 minutes according to the figures shared by the brand. So live streaming an event can extend reach to a much larger audience and achieve massive engagement.

11. Run contests

You can live stream a contest and even your Facebook fans can participate by responding to questions that you can specifically reserve for them.

A car-touching competition for instance is perfectly suited for live streaming. There is no telling how long the competition can run as it's a test of personal endurance.

We would like to hear about other creative ways in which businesses can use Facebook's 24-Hour Live Streaming. Share your thoughts below.

Guest Author: Aju Jacob is a digital strategist with skills spanning marketing, media, communications and digital technology. On his blog, Digital Newsbreak, he shares actionable insights on how everyday businesses can leverage digital marketing for business growth. You can also follow him on Twitter @aju_jacob.

The post 11 Ways to Use Facebook's 24-hour Live Streaming for Business appeared first on Jeffbullas's Blog.

from Jeffbullas's Blog http://ift.tt/2a7Y1mr

rgh–

Make Money Online posting articles, videos like this
11 Ways to Use Facebook's 24-hour Live Streaming for Business

Five Social Best-Practices and Their Examples From the Food Industry

What are the most effective, engaging ways to reach your customers via social media? Take a look at these best-practices from the food industry. Read the full article at MarketingProfs

Five Social Best-Practices and Their Examples From the Food Industry

from MarketingProfs Daily: Social Media http://ift.tt/2al3UPT

via

rgh–

15 Content Marketing Trends That Need Your Close Attention

Content marketing is entering a new phase.

It's heading into the trough. You could call it the dip of disillusionment. For many the promise hasn't arrived and the returns just haven't materialized. And the the marketing manager is now not sure if they should even continue.

Often this is because the idea at first glance looked good. The reality? The execution was poor. Content was created and shared but nothing of substance showed up. Few leads and little or even no sales.

They had bought into the hype but didn't realize the work and effort needed to make it effective.

The hype cycle

Gartner puts out the “Hype Cycle” graph every year. It's a revealing look at their take on the rise of the different technology innovations, the peak of what is sometimes inflated expectations and the trough of disillusionment that often follows.

Their placement of where they see the current state of content marketing is revealing.

Graphic source: Gartner

But despite this insight from the technocrats and the observers, content marketing is not not going away any time soon. But the reality of non performing content has started to sink in as as the attention span of the consumers of content becomes shorter and the noise and competition grows greater.

What does this mean for us as entrepreneurs and marketers?.

We are going to have to work not just harder but smarter. And we are also going to have to pay attention to trends that maybe you hadn't noticed or thought didn't matter.

#1. Storytelling

After years of just telling people what to do it has become apparent to me that education and soulless content as I knew it was not enough to change minds. It was time to add stories to the telling. Inspiration was required to be empowered through storytelling.

If you want to be remembered then touching hearts is where it happens. Many content marketers are discovering that storytelling has a power that they have ignored but are struggling to stand out in a sea of brand blandness.

“They may forget what you said - but they will never forget how you made them feel“. - Carl W. Buehner

So the art of storytelling and the importance of emotions is being rediscovered and gaining the focus it deserves.

The Hero's Journey as revealed by Joseph Campbell (and used in movies) is a revelation on the power of myth and storytelling. It is an art form that sits behind the science of what can sometimes be seen as a technology arms race.

If you want to stand out in a noisy digital world then you need to tell a better story.

#2. User generated content

Content marketing started out as a few blog articles, a Facebook  post followed by a tweet. It was a gentle walk in the park. That was enough. But that was then.

Content became militarized and industrialized. Done at scale for the masses.

The monolithic media companies had been poked and stirred and discovered the power of content and publishing. They woke up and smelled the potential and rolled out the big metal.

So competing for attention has never been harder. Creating content on your own is a lonely place and there is another issue. It doesn't scale.

So you now need the crowd to help you create content.

This includes stakeholders. employee advocates and consumers. Then you need the tools and platforms to create, manage and measure. These include platforms and apps like Shuttlerock.

User generated content is a trend that you will need to consider as part of your content marketing tactics.

Infographic source: Crowdtap via Mashable

#3. Authentic content

Traveling is a passion of mine. It is about discovering humanity and nature at the same time. But capturing those experiences doesn't require the DSLR with 10 lenses and a big bag.

A smartphone is enough.

Who waits to edit and photoshop back in the hotel room? Now we just hit upload and hit the share button. Those real and raw images create more trust. Polished and fake images are seen as less trustworthy by a discerning millennial audience.

Snapchat can't be polished and maybe that is part of its charm.

So we are going to see a lot more live video and images that taps into this growing need for authentic content.

#4. Quality content

One of my first blog posts was 106 words. No visuals and no sub-titles. It was enough then. We all need to feed the content beast that is a global competition for attention so banging out a ton of words, images and videos is still part of the game.

Quantity is still important but as Google has continued to impose its “user experience” and  “quality” algorithms as part of its search optimization the standard bar has been raised.

Content marketing is not just about social and shares it is also about search. Quality long form content sits right in that mix.

So long form content is now a key component for serious content marketers. SEO traffic is often 50% of the attention for a blog post. Over half this blog's traffic comes from organic search.

Posts that are positioned as a resource for an industry work on several levels. Link building and also as an authoritative portal for the niche.

Creating evergreen quality content is a long term content marketing trend that the top publishers understand.

#5. Live streaming video

We are now seeing the rise of “live video casting” that is moving from niche to mainstream

Meerkat was the most visible startup in the space in 2014 . Periscope followed close behind and Twitter bought them. Now we are seeing the fast growth and uptake of “Facebook Live”. YouTube and Tumblr are also starting to play at live streaming video.

Live streaming video is also emerging as in built features in video marketing platforms such as Twentythree.net

#6. Native content

As the adoption of ad blocking software reduces the effectiveness of banner ads then brands are trying to reach their audience in other ways. This leading to the rising trend of blog posts and articles that are sponsored.

The old is now new.

We knew it in the past as the old school “advertorial”. Part of the reason the use of Native branded content has been embraced is the necessity for digital publishers to monetise their websites.

Forbes has been one of the pioneers in this space (it started with this under the moniker “Brandvoice”). It is reported by AdAge that 30% of Forbes advertising revenue now comes from native advertising.

One of its latest iterations is “Special Features” that gives advertisers access to the same content creation tools as the Forbes editorial staff. Dell is one of the first to use this. It allows the publishing of posts, videos, infographics, interactive elements and photo galleries on the Forbes website.

Image source: AdAge

One of the challenges with native advertising is scaling it. And we can see how Forbes is confronting that be allowing access to its content creation backend.

It will be interesting to see how this trend spills over from the big players into the small niche publishers and bloggers.

For some other in depth insights on native advertising there is a recent study released by King Content that is worth checking out.

#7. Influencers

Online influencers are a new species.

They have emerged from the primordial digital mist because social media happened. At first they were not noticed even though they were in plain sight.

The sub-species includes:

• Youtube influencers


• Instagram Influencers


• Twitter influencers


• Podcast influencers

And now the Snapchat influencer is even in the mix.

But they all have a few things in common. Great content, distribution and credibility. And some are even entertaining.

Companies that haven't built their online audience want access to their viewers, readers and networks.

#8. Expiring content

Almost everyone has this problem. Procrastination. It is very human. Marketers and door to door salesman have understood this for decades. Expiring content is part of the solution today.

What was perceived as a fad has become a serious trend and it comes down to a metric that is always in decline. Engagement. A noisy digital world with an ever growing explosion of content means everyone is competing for engagement.

Expiring content creates scarcity.

Also called “FOMO”. If you don't leap onto Snapchat today you will miss that video or photo from friends and followers. Snapchat has this type of content corralled and cornered at this point in time.

But it hasn't gone unnoticed.

Facebook has failed in the past to compete with its Slingshot app. But its new feature within its Messenger app (which now has nearly 1 billion users) might get more traction.

A Facebook message with a timer!

#9. Optimized content

Many content marketers have a blind spot.

They know how to get traffic. They also know how to create engaging content. But they often overlook optimizing. Because it's not just about the traffic that turns up to engage with your content but what you do with it.

The switched on and savvy content marketers are now paying more focus on optimizing their content to capture leads and sales. The attention is shifting from fluffy and vanity metrics to using data for testing content for conversion. Part of that optimization journey is A/B split testing.

The ROI elephant never left the room. He just became visible.

#10. Distribution channels for content are changing

Earlier this year I added some new sharing buttons to my site. I checked into my analytics the other day and something stood out. Twitter shares were 135, LinkedIn shares 31 and Facebook was 13. But there seemed to be an anomaly.

The WhatsApp's metric stood at 75.

That's worth paying attention to. Don't assume that your content distribution channels are static. Keep an eye on your data and the digital marketing trends and make sure that you are testing the emerging social networks and messaging apps.

Some others to watch are Flipboard, Medium and even SMS for getting your content in front of a new audience. It's about removing friction and making your content move.

#11. Content marketing automation

Automation was first seen as an anathema on the new and emerging social web.

But marketers soon came to realize that their content, efforts and effectiveness didn't scale very well without it. This is now being woven into influencer marketing and native content marketing tools. Marketing automation tools are moving from a “nice to have” to being essential and they do not have to be expensive.

Delivery of content and distribution to multiple channels including email and social networks is complex and fragmented. The answer is often not more people but better mousetraps.

Automated email marketing funnels deliver the prospect to content such as a video sales page, an evergreen webinar or a free ebook. They can be targeted and tagged to be delivered to the the most relevant prospect.

Using semi automated technology to crowd-source visual content is also becoming adapted by forward thinking content marketers.

#12. Interactive content

With declining attention and engagement on websites and blogs the content marketer needs better tactics, tools and standout content in the toolbox. One of these is interactive content.

Early exponents of this tactic was Hubspot with its website grader which was used by over 4 million websites after being introduced in 2006. I remember going back to this site many times after starting my blog to see if it was improving. In 2011 was replaced with the Marketing Grader tool.

One of the top trends and biggest uses of interactive content are competitions and social contests which are often run and marketed on Facebook.

Infographic source: Demand Metric

#13. Mobile

Though it is now an obvious trend it still needs to be mentioned. Some of the key areas to watch as mobile continues to become an essential extension of humanity and the tool for receiving and consuming content are:

• Internal company advocates and external fans creating and sharing content about a brand using visual content marketing apps


• Mobile as a primary device for accessing augmented reality


• The rise of apps to deliver content that is easy to find and access

#14. Video

Streaming video is the hot trend but the use of pre-recorded video is now  essential. But it is now being taken from the video hosts and played from within the social networks. Video used to sit just on YouTube and on websites.

Now we are seeing it being played on the platform without ever leaving. This is happening on Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram and the list goes on.

Fast emerging video marketing technology platforms are starting to replace multiple tools (from editing to landing pages and calls to action) that had made video content marketing complex and clunky.

Expect to see video content marketing continue to be used much more widely due to better ease of use.

#15. Podcasting

Podcasting is a powerful type of content to engage with your audience. Its domination by a walled garden called iTunes is also a barrier to making content move and hard to discover. Those constraints were barriers to leaping into the space for many content marketers and potential publishers.

But emerging technology platforms and podcasting apps like Stitcher.com and Otto Radio are attempting to make this content more shareable and discoverable.

Podcasting is building some serious content marketing momentum.

The future

 Augmented and virtual reality content

Augmented and virtual reality is often a fantasy world that has been beyond the reach of most content marketing and brands. The cost, the timelines and resources required have made it prohibitive.

But the stunning success of the Pokemon Go mobile app that is an intersection of virtual reality, mobile and social is an insight into where augmented reality sits in the content marketing pantheon.

It's real, interactive and augmented content. Expect to see content marketers take a lot more notice.

We have seen the rise of sponsored native content and now we are about to see the emergence of “sponsored locations” according to the CEO of Niantic (the development studio behind Pokemon Go). This will aim to drive real foot traffic to retail stores. And this will be in addition to the the monetisation of the game with the in app purchases of power-ups and extra Poke balls.

McDonald's Japan is about to be the first major brand to sponsor locations and host “gyms” (or battle locations) at 3,000 of its stores across the country.

The rise of artificial intelligence

We have assumed for a long time that humans had a monopoly on content creation but artificial intelligence to augment humans collating and creating content is the next frontier. This could be marketing content and also educational content.

Platforms like IBM's Watson are helping sift through big data, solving problems and creating content at scale. To put some perspective on this, Woodside Energy (a large mining company) needed to capture the IP of its engineers and its decades of experience of designing, building and managing complex infrastructure. Using artificial intelligence technology they have now created 28,000 by 100 page documents that are used to transfer the expertise of their senior engineers to new graduates.

Also expect this AI technology to start creeping into content marketing over the next decade.

Over to you?

So are you still disillusioned?

Maybe it's time to pay closer attention to converting traffic and engagement from your content into leads and sales. Or you might need better tools to scale your efforts.

It could be that you need to tell a better story.

The post 15 Content Marketing Trends That Need Your Close Attention appeared first on Jeffbullas's Blog.

from Jeffbullas's Blog http://ift.tt/2aoIDEw

rgh–

Make Money Online posting articles, videos like this
15 Content Marketing Trends That Need Your Close Attention

6 Unforgettable Lessons from Southwest Airlines Social Media Crisis

Last week featured the nightmare that every social media manager, community manager, and social media customer service professional fears.

Southwest Airlines experienced a massive technology failure, rendering huge portions of their computer systems inoperable for more than 12 hours. To get back on track, the airline cancelled nearly 2,000 flights causing a four-day tsunami of customer frustration.

The magnitude of the issues were nearly unprecedented in American aviation, and the computer outages left airport personnel able to receive only minimal communication from corporate, causing huge inconsistencies in what passengers were told, and how they were treated. Some passengers got hotel vouchers, others did not. Some passengers were kept informed, others were left to fend for themselves.

It was BAD.

Southwest's customer service, social media, and operations teams were besieged by the red hot anger of some 250,000 irate passengers.

How did they do, and what can we learn from how they handled this extraordinary social media crisis? I've been watching their moves closely, and I've identified 6 social media crisis lessons.

Lesson 1: Say You're Sorry and Mean It

From the very beginning, the Southwest online representatives took complete ownership of the crisis, and apologized (with evident sincerity) to customers at every turn, both in social media and in explanatory content.

@youloveit32 We're so sorry to hear about the cancellation and we cannot thank you enough for your patience with our services today. ^AC

- Southwest Airlines (@SouthwestAir) July 22, 2016

This may seem self-evident and trivial, but it's not. Many companies forbid their social media customer care teams from apologizing for anything in a public forum, believing it opens the company to legal liability down the line. There is no factual basis for this, as I uncovered in my book, Hug Your Haters. Yet, it's not at all uncommon for companies to dance around the issue, even when they are clearly in the wrong, and refuse to apologize.

Not in this case.

Grade – A

Lesson 2: Live Video is a Terrific Social Media Crisis Tool

In any customer service scenario, humanity is key. It is much harder to be mad at a person – any person – than it is to be made at a company or brand.

Southwest took an innovative and effective approach to humanization through the use of Facebook Live video to keep customers informed and to underscore apologies.

The star of these videos was Brooks Thomas, who I interviewed on my Social Pros podcast in happier times. (It was a great episode, and I encourage you to listen to it).

But it wasn't just Brooks (who pulled all-nighters with his team trying to keep up with customer complaints) on Facebook Live. In the example above, the company's Chief Operating Officer explained the current status, adding significant credibility to the video.

The videos worked, at least as measured by emoji sentiment. The live broadcast above was watched 803,000 times (Wow!); was liked more than 5,500 times; was loved more than 1,100 times; and solicited a comparatively paltry 650 angry emojis.

This may go down in the social media text books as the first big-scale use of live video in a social media crisis. We will see more – a lot more – of this in the future.

Grade – A

Lesson 3: Your Website Can No Longer Be Your Crisis Home Base

In my first book, The Now Revolution, Amber Naslund and I wrote that the best way to handle a social media crisis is to create an online hub that contains all information and company responses about the situation, and to link to that hub in social media responses.

This strategy was employed as recently as 90 days ago when Starbucks created a massive kerfuffle by changing how points are accrued using their popular rewards card. In that crisis, Starbucks launched a dedicated microsite and FAQ about the changes, and referred unhappy customers to it, following The Now Revolution playbook almost exactly.

But Southwest Airlines has shown this approach is no longer sufficient. Customer attention is too fragmented and online channel proliferation is too real.

Southwest did post its written apology to its own discussion forum, but also posted the same content directly to Facebook as a note, and also on Linkedin.

This is wise and on-trend, as Southwest realized that customers on Facebook are there for a reason, and neither want (nor need, via the use of Notes) to click over to the Southwest website to read an apology and explanation.

I predict this type of multi-channel crisis communications will also become the norm.

Grade – A

Lesson 4: Hug Your Haters

As set forth in my book, the Hug Your Haters approach dictates that you answer every complaint, in every channel, every time.

Whether it was a strategic decision, or perhaps more likely a situation where the volume and speed of complaints was simply too enormous, Southwest did not answer them all. They answered many, on Facebook and Twitter in particular, but many custom complaints and pleas for information were not addressed.

The inconsistency of response compounded hurt feelings in some cases, and also created some channel shifting among customers seeking a place where they could be answered.

@AvenMarketing Sorry we haven't responded via Facebook. Feel free to DM your confirmation number so we can follow up. ^JB

- Southwest Airlines (@SouthwestAir) July 22, 2016

Echoing Lesson 3 above about channel proliferation and customer preference, it is fascinating that Southwest's Facebook page received thousands of customer complaints. The discussion board thread about the outage on Southwest's website received a total of 39 replies.

(My online training course on how to be great at online (and offline) customer service, and how customer service is the new marketing is now live. Visit KeepYourCustomersCourse.com for details)

Grade – C

Lesson 5: Be Fast

While Southwest wasn't able – or willing – to answer every customer complaint, those they did address were handled with stunning swiftness, given the circumstances.

Twitter complaints that received a reply were mostly handled in three to 12 minutes, and Facebook responses within 45 minutes.

This is also on trend, as my study with Tom Webster and Edison Research found that 40% of the social media complainers who expect a response from brands expect that response within 60 minutes. It's safe to say that just about every customer expected a response in this case, so doing so within an hour is quite a feat for Southwest, given the deluge.

It would have been better to answer them all, but answering fast at least helps placate the customers they could respond to during the crisis.

(For more on this point, download my new ebook “How Fast is Fast Enough?” It's all about speed in social media customer service responses.)

Grade – B

 

Lesson 6: Every Channel is a Customer Service Channel

As noted above, Southwest took an overt, multi-channel approach to handling this social media crisis.

The crisis was never mentioned on Instagram, however.

The brand is active on Instagram, with nearly 250,000 followers on that channel. Perhaps because they believe Instagram is a platform for feel good, behind-the-scenes storytelling (according to Brooks in his podcast interview), the airline chose to not apologize or make any reference whatsoever on Instagram.

This was a mistake.

Southwest's most recent Instagram post has received 322 angry comments, with zero response or acknowledgement from the company. Ouch.

Remember that it doesn't matter if the company thinks of a channel as a “customer service channel.” If the organization has a presence in an online venue – even it it's usually just marketing and communications content – customers will expect to be able to communicate with the company on that venue in a crisis scenario.

With messaging apps and Snapchat coming online as potential customer service outlets too, the channel proliferation problem is going to get even more acute for businesses. You can no longer assume that ANY channel is non-viable as a customer contact avenue.

Grade – F

 

I'm a fan of Southwest. They're good to me when I fly, and I've enjoyed working with the brand on the business side as well. I'm truly sorry this crisis occurred – for the many, many affected passengers, and for the company. All-in-all they did a commendable job of handling it in social media, and I hope you never forget these lessons, which are applicable in almost every social media crisis scenario.

 

       

6 Unforgettable Lessons from Southwest Airlines Social Media Crisis

from Convince and Convert Blog: Social Media Strategy and Social Media Consulting http://ift.tt/29RmOzC

via
rgh–

12 Marketing Automation Hacks That Will Surprise You and Boost Your Business Growth

Automate or die.

It might sound dramatic, but it's the digital reality we live in.

If you want to leave your mark on this world as a blogger, virtual entrepreneur or online startup – you need to automate a big chunk of your marketing. Because if you don't you'll be left behind, and quickly become insignificant.

Whether it's as basic as pre-scheduling a few social media messages, or as complex as constructing a fully-fledged email marketing funnel – automation is here to stay, and everyone is doing it.

In fact, the number of organizations using marketing automation has increased 11 times in the last 5 years.

Image Source: Email Monday

The good news is you haven't missed the boat… Yet.

Despite this increase in marketing automation adoption among businesses, as much as 62% of companies don't use advanced automation features, and limit themselves to basic email marketing and customer relationship management.

While these companies stagnate, marketing automation technology continues to develop, offering you a unique competitive opportunity.

If you want to be a leader in this space, the rest of this post will help. Below I reveal 12 marketing automation hacks that you (and your competitors) have most likely never heard of before.

Let's get started.

Note: Each Marketing Automation provider offers a different array of features. This post is based on solutions provided by SALESmanago Marketing Automation, one of the largest European martech companies. Find out more info at www.salesmanago.com

1. Email anonymous visitors on your website

Most of your website visitors aren't in your CRM software yet.

They scan through a couple of pages and then leave, without giving you their contact information.

So how can you reach them now?

Smart marketing automation software allows you to use cookie matching integration with external email database providers (such as Remintrex) to send personalized messages to these website visitors.

Sounds like magic? Yes. But now it's a reality.

2. Recover abandoned carts with Facebook Messenger

69% of shopping carts on eCommerce stores are abandoned. To address this problem, marketing automation software has traditionally sent email blasts to recover these lost sales. But what if someone is unresponsive over email?

Now you can approach them via Facebook Messenger, by delivering your potential customer a list of products they added to their shopping cart, and the option to go back to finalize the transaction.

3. Send personalized discount emails

Perhaps your customer wanted a product, but the price scared them off. It happens often, where purchase motivation is high, yet money is the problem.

To make your customer's life easier, you can send an automatic email when the price of the product they viewed, but haven't purchased, drops or is discounted. You are capitalizing on already established purchase intent.

These personalized dynamic emails get 400% higher open and click through rates.

4. Tailor Facebook Ads based on offline behavior

Do you have a physical store? If you do you will find this tip essential.

You can now integrate your Facebook Ads with marketing automation systems that include offline data such as; information about purchases, info from iBeacons etc.

5. Build intuitive customer behavioral profiles

Traditional web analytics are based on what the user clicks on – and today that method is outdated.

Why?

Because now customers can check product details without even visiting a product page. For example, some e-shops have all the crucial details listed on the product category page. When your website is constructed that way, traditional click-based tracking won't tell you much about the content that visitor actually consumed.

These days you can use advanced monitoring options to see which products a customer has seen, for how long they have seen them, and then use this information to build full behavioral profiles about the most interesting products for each person.

You can also see how far down a person has scrolled on a page or whether they have seen a given form.

This analysis allows you to indicate patterns in customers' behavior. For example, customers who buy product A, also view product B.

6. Collect leads with intelligent contact forms

With marketing automation you start to collect huge amounts of information about the anonymous visitors on your website.

Converting these visitors using traditional contact forms can be a drawn-out process. But you can speed up this process by using personalized lead generation forms and landing pages which ask just for their e-mail address or phone number. In this case you don't need to ask for their interests because you already know them from this person's website activity.

These personalized contact forms get over 1000% higher conversions than typical contact forms.

7. Use customer data to display ads

Are you using ad networks to display branding or remarketing? Well, everybody is doing that. But with marketing automation you can greatly expand the possibilities of ad networks by using transactional data from your CRM system.

Let's say you still haven't received a payment and the customer doesn't respond to your emails or calls. This might sound brutal but you can actually use this information about overdue payments to display ads on the Financial Times website.

Also, for B2B sales processes you can use ad networks as a supporting tool for your lead nurturing campaigns.

8. Use behavioral scoring in your recruitment process

Marketing automation not only helps for streamlining marketing and sales. You can also streamline your recruitment process by scoring your candidates – the same way you score your leads.

If a candidate sends an application, start a lead nurturing campaign and build their behavioral profile based on articles and information they read on your website.

Distinguish between those most active and willing to prepare best for the interview and those who didn't bother to do anything.

9. Never ask for information you already have

Once you have got contact data from your potential customer, you no longer need to force them to send the same information again in contact forms or popups on your site. However, you can still present contact forms – just ask for different data this time.

Marketing automation can identify the user and shape the contact form in such a way that it asks for information that's not in the system. For example, when the contact is monitored and you have their email address, the next form will only contain the box for a phone number and name to fill in.

10. Adjust discount levels based on engagement

You can build loyalty programs that adjust the prices displayed on your website, and in your emails, according to a customers' activity.

In other words, different prices are displayed to different customers based on how many times they have viewed a product, or the frequency with which they have purchased.

You can also send additional discount codes to those who have not been engaged for a long time to activate them.

11. Identify important product categories with segmentation

Many marketers use the segmentation technique and add tags to a given contact when they show an interest in a product category. The problem is, customers can be interested in various categories on your website. Flat segmentation, which tells you only the names of those categories, won't guarantee the best offer targeting.

You can go deeper with this customer segmentation and score each segment basing on how often a user browses products from a given group. At the end of the day, your marketing automation can tell which category is more relevant to a given recipient. It will help you avoid the trap of meaningless tagging, when one user has so many tags that you no longer know which offers would be most relevant.

12. Deliver emails at the most suitable time

Have you ever wondered which is the best day in the week to send out your newsletter? Now you don't have to.

Based on the analysis of an individual contact's online activity, marketing automation can deliver your weekly newsletter at the best day and time, individually to each contact in your database.

You can see as much as a 200% increase in open and click-through rates just by using this one marketing automation hack.

Wrap up

Without a doubt marketing automation is evolving as we speak.

The opportunity to automate, optimize and scale your online business is ripe for the picking.

But it won't be long until that opportunity dilutes… Just like every other trend we see in digital marketing. Everyone starts doing it and it becomes less effective.

So if you want to leave your very own digital footprint on this world, now is the time to take action and marketing automation is your ticket to making it happen faster.

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post on behalf of SALESmanago. As always, all thoughts and opinions are my own.

The post 12 Marketing Automation Hacks That Will Surprise You and Boost Your Business Growth appeared first on Jeffbullas's Blog.

from Jeffbullas's Blog http://ift.tt/2ae5ymz

rgh–

Make Money Online posting articles, videos like this
12 Marketing Automation Hacks That Will Surprise You and Boost Your Business Growth